
M 



Hoi 



Li ■ 2^^:^ 



ON NATIONAL FREE SCHOOLS. 



/ 






LETTER I. 



•* Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for 
the general diflfusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of 
a government gives force to public opinion, it is essentia! that public 
opinion should be enlightened." — Washington'' s Farewell Addresn^ 

To his country that illustrious patron of liheity gave this 
interesting advice when on retiring from public life be pro- 
nounced his parting blessing. It is the language of parental 
solicitude, the result of great experience and of a profound 
consideration of the causes best adapted to seciire perma- 
nency and glorv to this Republic. ^ 

At the expiration of more than ihirfij years since this ad- 
vice was given, we inquire, What has been done by the 
Government of the U. Slates ^' for the general diffusion of 
knowledge ?" There is no answer to be given but that 
which ought to encrimson the cheek of every friend to his 
country. For *^the general diffusion of knowledge," an ob- 
ject of primary importance as acknowledged by all, nothing 
worthy of mention has been done. No system of generjil 
application to the purpose has yet been adopted. 

In this and a series of succeeding letters the writer pro- 
poses to treat on the following topics : 

1. On the importance of National Free Schools to secure 
permanency and prosperity to this Union. 

2. On the constitutional power of Congress to establish 
and patronize National Free Schools. 

3. On the competency of the resourcee of the government 
for the purpose. 

1 



2 ^^I'l 

4. Proposed plan for establishing such Schools. 

5. On the advantages offncd by the present condition of 
this country for adopting the proposed measure. 

6. On the probable efieets of National Free Schools on 
the government and general interests of this Union. 

It is the intention of the writer to treat as concisely as 
pTacticahle on these several topics, with the hope that these 
letters may he the more extensively spread through the me- 
dium of public journals, before the people of the United 
States, as well as before those to whom they have delegated 
the great trust to provide for their welfare. In this letter 1 
would respectfully call upon the Representatives of the peo- 
ple and the people themselves to cotisider, 

I. The importance of National Free Schools to secure 
permanency and prosperity to this Union. 

It has been an object of the anxious solicitude of the 
wisest and best of our patriots and statesmen to re(?ommend 
measures to forni among the people of the several states 
affinities of character, to counteract the influence of section- 
al prejudices, and thereby to strengthen and perpetuate the 
bonds essential to tlieir existiMice and j^ro.-perity as a nation. 
Already too often have arisen sectional jealousies and alien- 
ations injurious to our prosperity and dishonorable to our 
character io the eyes of the v/orld. Before the tomb lias 
closed on tmit illustrious race of patriots who recoiled from 
no sacrifices for the achie\emeDi of the independence and 
freedom of their country, for even slight causes the dissolu- 
tion of the proud ?nonument of their glory has been repeat- 
edly threatened by their sons. Such occurrences declare 
too plainly a deplorable want of national feeling, national 
character, national pride. The friend of his country has 
just cause to fear, lest some emergency shall arouse sec- 
tional prejudices and growing alienations to deeds of vio- 
lence, and to plunge this country into all the horrors of civil 
war. Or if they but foster a spirit of angry rivalry and illil)- 
erality paralizing to national character, they are ominous of 
an early decline to a state of injbecility. 

It is, then, the duty of a wise government to guard, not 
only against external foes, but with equal care against the 
evils that spring from ignorance and misguided passions. 
Ipwrance is the manacle that holds the slave in ignominious 
londtige. And it ought to be the dread of every mind on 



3 

which, from the source of its ori^xln, tho feeblest rays of 
intellect have fallen. The policy of a good government will 
be parental. Its care will not be limited to the providing 
of means of subsistence, warlike defence, or the acquisition 
of wealth, but will extend to those means essential to improve 
the condition of the people as intellectu il and moral beings, 
capable of happiness and self-(roverntnent only in proportion 
as they are enlightened and virtuous. 

In this country the right of sufFra^^e is a sovereign right 
that knows no earthly superior. At its pleasure it raises 
up and it casts down. Blind with ignorance it may elect 
tyrants for masters and cling to the oppression which intelli- 
gence and virtue would spurn with disdain. The welfare 
then of every citizen demands of his government that aid 
which is most essential to enable him to understand and ap- 
preciate his rights and to test the character and conduct oi 
those to whom he confides the destinies of his existence. 

No enlightened statesman can imagine that a form of gov 
ernment, such as is the Genera! (rovernment of the U, States, 
could even long exist unsupported by other institutions. 

The General Government may be aptly compared to a 
clock, the parts of w^hich, all separate, some lucky and in- 
genious wights found, by accident, ready prepared to be 
arranged in order and set in motion. For aw-hile it moves 
on reg-ularly. But what is to be done when the parts by de- 
cay require to be repaired .'' What is to be expected when 
new parts imperfectly adapted are added, rendering the 
whole more complicated and unwieldy ? 

The statesmen of this country are requested to consider 
well by what means the character of the people of the Old 
States was formed,! speak of the people who gave existence to 
this government. Mow were the elements prepared to found 
and build up this Republic ? So far as the Eastern States 
were concerned the very existence of this Republic may be 
clearly traced to the influence of institutions which were de- 
voted to the improvement of the common people. 

Their towns, their parishes, their district schools were so 
many little Republics where all were taught to think, to esti- 
mate their riglits and to imbibe the principles of religious 
and civil liberty. 

The parts which compose this Union diil not originate by 
accident. Throimh all their treneratious from the first set- 
lleiDcnt of tijis country the people were diligently preparing 



themselves for the establishment of the government now en- 
joyed by us. However low their finrinces they kept their 
institutions of learning alive. The statesmen who acted a 
distinguished part in the Revolution saw and felt the impor- 
tance of the ditfusion of knowledge among the people. Thej 
neglected not the most interesting occasions from time to 
time when called by their country to give counsels for the 
promotion of the public welfare, to urge upon the attention 
of Congress the it-nportance of legislation for a purpose so 
essential to consummate the object of their hopes and most 
devout aspirations. 

This letter will be closed in the words of Washington in 
his speech to Congress in 1790: — '' Nor am I less persuaded, 
that you will agree with me in opinion, that tiiere is nothing 
which can better deserve your patronage, than the promotion 
of science and literature. Knowledge is, in every country, 
the surest basis of public happiness. In one, in which the 
measures of government receive their impressions so imme- 
diately from the sense of the community, as in ours, it is 
T)roportionably essential. To the security of a free consti- 
tution it contributes in various ways : By convincing those 
who are entrusted with the public administration, that every 
valuable end of government is best answered by the enlight- 
ened confidence of the people ; and by teaching the people 
themselves to know and to value their own rights ; to discern 
and provide against invasions of them; to distinguish between 
oppression and the necessdry exercise of lawful authority ; 
between burdens proceeding from a disregard to their con- 
venience, and those resulting from the inevitable exigencies 
of society ; to discriminate the spirit of liberty from that of 
licentiousness, cherishing the first, avoiding the last, and 
uniting a speedy, but temperate vigilance against encroach- 
ments, with an inviolable respect to the laws. 

Whether this desirable object will be best promoted by 
affording aids to seminaries of learning already established, 
by the institution of a national university, or by any other 
expedients, will be well worthy of a place in the delibera- 
tions of the legislature."— Pr€S. iSpeecAes, ]9. 36. 

On the importance of general education among the people 
of the U. States it would be superfluous at present to add 
fTiOre, By our Presidents, nearly without exception, the same 
object has been in vain urged upon the attention of Congress. 



This subject is presented as one of momentous importance; 
and with the hope that it may engage the efforts of the best 
minds and ablest advocates, until the voice of the people 
shall plead their claim with effect in the Capitol of the Union. 

S. P. 



LETTER II. 

Having in the preceding letter offered remarks to prove 
the importance of the measure proposed, the next question 
naturally presents itself, Whether Congress is vested by the 
Constitution with power to establish National Free Schools ? 

In their Constitution the people of the United States have 
declared it to be the great object of the government they 
have instituted, "to promote the general welfare and secure the 
blessings of liberty to themselves and their posterity. '^^ 

To common sense it would seem to be an insult to cori- 
tend that the power, ^'to promote the general welfare and 
secure the blessings of liberty," does not include the power 
to adopt measures which all must admit to be essential to 
these objects. Can it be denied that the general diffusioin 
of knowledge is essential to the preservation of a govern- 
ment like ours, immediately depending on public opinion ? 

An elective government like ours must ever be character- 
ized by wisdom or folly, energy or imbecility, purity or cor- 
ruption, according as public opinion, that is, the opinion cf 
the great body of the people is enlightened or unenlightened, 
debased or elevated. That the Constitution of the United 
States was intended to exclude a power whoso exercise is 
essential '^ to promote the general welfare and secure the 
blessings of liberty," is a supposition entirely incredible. 
It would impute to its framers either consummate weakness 
and inconsistency or a corrupt design to embody in the sys- 
tem the elements of its own dissolution. 

That those who framed the Constitution intended to leave 
exclusively to the several States, the power to make provs- 
gions essential to the general welfare or to the very exist- 
ence of the whole Union, is surely an assumption fraught 
1* 



only with absurdity. Intelligent statesmen and ardent pat- 
riots such as they were, having encountered the thousand 
artifices of the Britisii government and a bloody war of eight 
years to reduce them to submission, are not to be charged 
with the folly of having set up a system so unworthy of tJieir 
character. 

The Constitution has not vested Congress with power to 
compel the several States to make provision for the general 
diffusion of knowledge. But in the 8th section, in addition 
to the declaration in the preamble, it has expressly declared 
that ^^ Congress shall have power to provide for the general 
welfare of the United States." In an amendment of the 
Constitution intended '^ to prevent misconstruction or abuse 
of its powers," it is declared that ^'Congress shall make no 
law respecting an establishment of Religion, or prohibiting 
the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, 
or of the press." But not a clause is to be found either di* 
rectly or indirectly prohibiting Congress the power to estab- 
lish Free Schools. The power to provide f^ir institutions 
for the diffusion of knowledge, the vital element of a free 
people, would have been the last to have been prohibited 
by the framers of the Constitution or by the people who 
ratified it. 

To a wide extent Congress has already exercised the 
power to erect roads and canals, the benefits of which must 
he unequally enjoyed by the different sections of the Union. 
This has been exercised avowedly as an implied and con- 
structive power, *^to promote the general welfare." The 
advocates for the exercise of this power cannot, it is fair to 
presume, consistently oppose the exercise of a power less 
doubtful as to the principles of its construction ; — a power 
to establish a system capable of diffusing with far greater 
equality, to every part of this extensive country, the most 
beneficent influence, without endangering any political right. 
Knowledge, like the light of heaven, is capable of a diffu- 
siveness more equally just and salutary than any blessing 
ever at the disposal of civil government. 

But so far as precedent gives authority the power in ques- 
lion is placed beyond dispute. Appropriations have been 
made by Congress for founding and supporting the Academy 
at West Point, the Columbian College in the District of Co- 
l^irnbia, for the support of common schools in Alabama, Illi» 
RQi9, Indiana, Missouri, Mississippi and other States or 



Territories, and other literary institutions. Whether the 
appropriations were made in money or lands, the mode of 
appropriation does not affect the question of power. Appro- 
priations in public lands to a great extent have been unavail- 
ing for the purposes of education. It* Congress has power 
according to the Constitution to appropriate public lands to 
the support of common schools, and other literary institutions, 
can it be doubted that it has power to apply for the benefit 
of the whole people, the revenue taken directly from the 
pockets of the people, in a manner to promote their welfare 
and especially '' to secure the blessings of liberty to them- 
selves and their posterity?" 

If then Congress has power to provide for the erection of 
roads and eanals, for the support of a Military Academy, 
devoted in fact to general science as much as almost any 
other institution, and for the support of various institutions of 
a literary character, it may justly astonish the people of the 
United States to be told that Congress has not power to pro- 
vide for the establisfiment of common free schools^ of whose 
blessings the humblest as well as the highest may partake. 

To the candid an argument further protracted, I trust, 
would be needless. With others it would be useless. 

So strongly did this subject press upon the consideration 
of Presidents Jefferson and Madison, that they recommend- 
ed, provided Congress should doubt its power to make ap- 
propriations for purposes of education, an alteration of the 
Constitution to remove ail doubt. But every session of 
Congress, by the passage of analogous acts, furnishes proof 
that the question of power in such cases is settled. 

The power of Congress to erect roads and canals has been 
opposed and zealously opposed by statesmen in different 
sections of the Union as one not included in the power to 
provide for '' the general welfare." They have denied that 
roads and canals would be conducive to the general welfare. 
They have protested against the system of ^' Internal Im- 
provement," as a system incapable (^f an equitable applica- 
tion. In the absence of the same grounds of objection to 
the proposed system of National Free Schools, the hope i« 
fondly indulged that when this system in its various bearings 
shall have received due consideration, it will appear to be 
an object to which the increasing surplus of the national 
revenue may be most satisfactorily applied. 

S. P. 



LETTER III. 

If the forming of a national character, if to strengthen 
the bonds of the Union and to consummate the designs of 
the founders of this Republic are objects worthy of the re- 
gard of the statesman and the patriot, and consistent with 
the spirit and true intent of the Constitution, then the ques- 
tion that naturally arises is, Whether the resources of this 
government are competent to establish and patronize the 
proposed system ? 

The competency of the resources of this government to 
patronize a system of National Free Schools is the subject 
of this letter. 

According to the official estimate of the revenue and ex- 
penditure of the government for the year 1828, there was 
left in the Treasury, on the first of January, 1829, an esti- 
mated balance of more than five millions of dollars. In a 
short period of time the whole public debt will have been 
discharged and the annual appropriation of ten millions 
of dollars for that purpose will cease to be required. No 
complaint is heard among the people, that the tax for the 
Fupport of the General Government is severely burthensome. 
It seems to be almost unfelt. 

If the revenue shall continue to prosper as at present, a 
surplus, amounting annually to tex or twelve millions of 
dollars, will soon remain to be applied to some object, wor- 
thy we trust of this Republic, and devoted to her best inter- 
ests. By statesmen of forecast it is believed that a great 
reduction of the public revenue would be deemed unwise 
and unsafe for the country. Emergencies may arise to de- 
mand the whole revenue for purposes of defence. An accu- 
mulation in the Treasury w^ould be a temptation to prodi- 
gality in the Government. Resources then ought to be kept 
continually at the disposal of the Government to meet emer- 
gencies. 

It is therefore proposed that two or more millions of dol- 
lars be conditionalbj appropriated during short periods of time 
for the support or patronage of National Free Schools, 
and in such manner that, in the event of war, the appropria- 
tion may be suspended and applied to purposes of defence. 
To the statesman the question is submitted. Whether such 
disposition of the revenue w^ould not be wiser and safer for 



the country than a permanent relinqiiishnient of the duties 
by which the national treasury is now supplied. 

Would this crovernment, at the present moment, incur any 
serious hazard by appropriating to purposes of education, a 
sum annually, for a period of five years, with the reserve 
that in case of war it should be suspended ? As a burthen, 
it would be unfelt by the people. An appropriation of two 
or even four millions annually for five years would m all 
probability fall short of the surplus of revenue for that period. 
The cry that the public debt should first be paid is not the 
language of sound discretion. What parent would not bo 
spurned for his cruelty in suff'ering his children to grow up 
in ignorance until his debts were all paid ? The policy 
would be as insane as that of him, who, threatened with 
death by disease, should defer calling a physician until his 
debts were all discharged. 

Would the sum proposed answer a valuable purpose ap- 
portioned among trvelve millions of people } If apportioned 
according to the ratio of representation, the sum of 2,160^- 
000 dollars would give to each Congressional District 10,000 
dollars. This sum of ten thousand dollars would support 
in each congressional district twenty-five Teachers of 
Grammar Schools, during the whole year, or twice that 
number of teachers during half of the year. That sum, in 
aid of the efforts of the people, animated by the countenance 
of the Government of the [Jnited States, would awaken a 
zeal in the cause of education not to be repressed, — and 
promising an advancement of the interests of public improve- 
ment, and of laudable enterprise worthy of the rank among 
nations to which, as a nation, we aspire. Without an iiitel^ 
ligent population, let our statesmen remember that the anti- 
cipated benefits to result from plans of internal improvement 
can never be realized. The world has given sufficient proof 
that the greatest advantages for the acquisition of wealth 
and power, without intelligence and virtue among the peo- 
ple, become the mere instruments of national degradation 
and wretchedness. It would be infinitely better that the 
proudest project of roads and canals should utterly fail, than 
that any considerable portion of the people of this country 
should be neglected and degraded as they must be in a state 
of ignorance. 

But the object here proposed will not require the aban-* 
donment of other improvements. The diffusion of knowledge 



10 

would animate the people of this Republic to keep progress 
with the spirit of the age, and more justly to appreciate the 
advantages offered them in the measures proposed by their 
most enlightened statesmen. Intelligence is the element 
that imparts to the spirit of enterprise its power to secure 
success. 

Expenditures of government for purposes of education in- 
stead of exhausting would replenish the national treasury, 
by opening and brinr^ing into use resources of wealth and 
prosperity yet either entirely or imperfectly known. It is 
intelligence that originates and prosecutes the great pursuits 
which successfully employ the industry of millions. 

It is due to some of our statesmen (to the Hon. James 
Strong of N. York and others) to mention that repeated and 
able efforts have been made to obtain the passage of a bill ma- 
king appropriation of the proceeds of the sale of public lands 
to the promotion of popular education. The efforts have 
been without success. The subject of the public lands has 
become one of the most complicated and vexatious that can 
be brought before Congress. Such is its character that it 
cannot fail to embarrass any cause connected with it. If 
the nation must wait for the proceeds of the sale of public 
lands to support a system of popular education, it is to be 
feared that the cause is entirely hopeless. Let, therefore, 
the proposed plan stand solely on the ground of its own 
merits, to be sustained by the common will and the common 
resources of the country. 

Aiiev much reflection on the subjects of the public debt, 
the ordinary expenses of the government, together with its 
engagements to complete the national works to which it 
stands pledged, and the increasing resources of the country, 
it may be assumed with confidence, that for the establishment 
and support of the institution here proposed, an appropria- 
tion of several millions of dollar-s annually for five years 
might be made by this government with the most perfect 
safety. No enactment could have stronger claims to the 
gratitude of the whole people. No measure could secure 
for the Le£>'islature of this Union a fame more illustrious. 

My next will give the outline of a Plan for establishing 
the proposed system. S. P. 



11 



LETTER IV. 



The object of this Letter is to give a sketch of a Plan for 
establishing and patronising a system of Free Schools. 

It is proposed, that the appropriation for this purpose 
shall be apportioned among the several states and territories 
of the Union, in a ratio according to the representation of 
each State and Territory. Such apportionment would leave 
undisturbed the unhappy controversy Iietween the two great 
sections of the Union. It would best conform to the spirit 
of conciliation and compromise with which the Constitution 
was formed and adopted. I refer to the compromise be- 
tween the slaveholding and the non-slaveholding states. It 
is proposed that the portion of appropriation allotted to each 
state or territory shall, under certain conditional regulations 
of the General Government, be left to the disposition of the 
Governirsent of each state or territory, with liability to for- 
feiture for misapplication. Where states are formed into 
school-districts as in the New Engjand, Middle, and some 
other states, there could be no difficulty in the equal appli- 
cation of the quota of each state. Each congressional dis- 
trict would be entitled to an equal sum, say, ten thousand 
dollars^ and each school-district to a sum proportioned ac- 
cording to the estimate of population. Or it might be appor- 
tioned among towns according to population, by the state, 
and under certain restrictions, left to the disposition of the 
towns. In those states where common schools are neglect- 
ed arsd no efficient system is organized, an appiopriation 
from the General Government would awaken new emulation 
in the cause of education. Let a system of free schools be 
required of each state and territory, by the General Govern- 
nsent, as a condition for receiving*her quota, and it may bo 
pr(:sunied that not one state or territory would long be de- 
linquent. IIow many are the villages where the inhabitants 
would be formed and organized into school-districts, consti- 
tuting so many little republics ; whose youth now growing 
up in ignorance, idleness and vice, would then enjoy means 
of iniprovement both intellectual and moral, without which 
man is a d( graded creature and a pest to society. 

So many are the states that now l)ave their systems of 
Fchool-districts organize d and in operation, that no state 
c( uld have difficulty in devising a plan suited to its situation. 



12 

Let the General Government hold out to each congressio/ial 
district the inducement of a few thousands of dollars for the 
proposed object, and by every part of the Union it would be 
received with sentiments of devotion and gratitude more gen- 
eral and ardent and lasting than any act of this Government 
has ever called forth. 

True, indeed, the sum proposed would not be adequate to 
supply an entire support to the whole system of Free Schools. 
In the opinion of the writer such support would be undesira- 
ble. It is better that the people should have some direct 
pecuniary interest in measures for the support of their own 
institutions. All that the people require is the influence of 
aid and of an earnest^ in the countenance and example of the 
Government. They require only to know that the Govern- 
ment is engaged to consult measures for their happiness. 

An appropriation from the Government to them would re- 
commend Vvith an eloquence beyond mere words, to their 
care and vigilance the all important interests of education. 
Who has not noticed the influence of the patronage of a 
number of the state governn)ents for the promoti(m of agri- 
culture and other useful arts } A few thousand dollars ol the 
bounty of a state irive impulse to enterprise, and the most 
beneflcial efl^ects are every where evinced in iniproved modes 
of cultivation and in all that can add to the convenience, 
ornament and comfort of life. 

The plan of National Free Schools is then feasible. 
The revenue is competent to carry the plan Jnto operation 
without increasing burthens which now are light. And it is 
believed that no measure could be devised which would so 
eflx^ctually bind the heart of every parent and of every good 
citizen in a Arm alleiriance to the General Government. 

s. p. 



LETTER T. 

As proposed, this letter will be devoted to (he consideration 
of the expediency of improving the present as a favorable 
period for the establishment of an institution of the highest 
importance to the welfare of this country. 



13 

The present is a period of peace with all the world, with 
a prospect of its continuance. Although among some class- 
es of citizens, embarrassments are felt, yet seldom does it 
fall to the lot of any nation to experience greater prosperity 
than this now enjoys. But the patriot will not fold his hands 
as if nothing further can be done. 

It has been shown in the preceding letters, that this Gov- 
ernment is free from embarrassments, its public debt beinci^ 
nearly paid, and important works, for nation?! defence, for 
internal improvement, and for the aid and protection of our 
commerce and navigation being in a state of advancement. 
Unless the revenue, contrary to all reasonable calculation, 
shall be reduced, a large surplus will soon have been accu- 
mulated in the national treasury. The revenue also accrue- 
ing from the sale of public lands may be expected to swell 
that accumulation. 

Could this nation be assured of no cause of war, the re- 
pea! of a great part of the duties by which the treasury is 
now replenished might perhaps be deemed a wise measure. 
But no statesman would take upon himself the responsibility 
of a policy that would strip his country of the sinews of de- 
fence in emergencies that may possibly arise. Such a pol- 
icy would be suicidal. Is this country now prepared to 
adopt the policy of applying her increasing millions of reve- 
nue exclusively to fortifications, to the erection of roads and 
canals or to an increase of the army and navy.^ May it not 
be reasonably expected that ere lon^- the people will demand 
either a reduction of duties that will dry up the resources of 
the government, or some system of application of those re- 
sources in whose benefits they may enjoy a participation 
more direct and equal than that which now prevails t Already 
are there indications, that in relation to this subject public 
opinion is approaching to a crisis. The people of the Unit- 
ed States are beyond any other people jealous of their rights. 
I thank God that they are so. This is essential to their safe- 
ty. Before then the apprehension becomes more general and 
deeply fixed that the resources of Government drawn from 
the people are to continue to be unequally and unjustly ap- 
plied, let it be the care of the Representatives of the people 
to commence a system that shall carry back from the national 
treasury to the people some beneficial effects that shall be 
palpable. The people of the United States have a right to 
the evidence that they are taxed for their own benefit. It 



14 

is an eternal law of Republics adopted by tbe illustrious 
founders of ours, that '' Government is, or ought to be insti- 
tuted for tlie common benefit^ protection, and security of the 
people^ nation or community ;" and that " of all the various 
modes and forms of government, that is best which is capable 
of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety." 
Such is the language of the constitution of Virginia. It is 
the language of her great statesmen whose names will be 
honored as long as Republics exist. The constitution of 
Massachusetts framed by statesmen and patriots of the same 
great school contains this provision. '' "Wisdom and knowl- 
edge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of 
the people being necessary for the j)reservai{on of their rights 
cmd liberties: and as these depend on spreading the opportu- 
nities and advantages of education in the various parts of 
the country, and among the different orders of tbe people, 
it shall be the duty of Legislatures and magistrates in all 
future periods of this Commonwealth, to cherish the inter- 
ests of literature and the sciences and all seminaries of 
them." At that period of the Republic when the fathers of 
it bad learned by experience the cost of their liberties, their 
solicitude for their preservation led them to reflect deeply 
on the means essential to preserve them. Much has been 
done by a number of states for the cause of common educa- 
tion. By a number of states education is still neglected, 
and among all, the means are still unequal to the impor- 
tance of tlieir object. 

By every consideration of the present state of the Union 
and of the world, the measure proposed is urged upon the 
attention of our rulers. In the language of an elegant writer 
I would say, '' No men ever enjoyed such an opportunity as 
is given to you, for accomplishing the best hopes of patriot- 
ism and philanthropy. Solon, Aristides, Demosthenes, the 
Fabii, Cato, and Cicero, had no such materials to work with 
as you have in the intelligence and virtue of this free people. 
Te all human view, the last great experiment of republican 
freedom that is likely to be tried for ages, is passing under 
your guidance. T[»e eyes of the world are upon you. Ages 
that have passed in the noble strife for liberty, ages of pat- 
riot tears and blood, call upon you, and unborn generations 
echo the call to you, to be faithful to the solemn trust. For 
God's sake, and for your country's^ let us say, let us intreat 
you — hear the call." 



15 

The fact of the immense influx from the surplus popula- 
tion of Europe urges the proposed measure upon this gov- 
ernment. Without reproach to that portion of our popula- 
tion it is a fact too true to he disregarded, that it has not 
been prepared by the influence of institutions like ours to 
improve and enjoy in the best manner the advantages offered 
by a free government. The mental elements on which lib- 
erty depends do not, like the physical elements, circulate 
without human efforts. If we would have our vast tracts of 
unsettled country inhabited by an intelligent, virtuous and 
free population, they must be raised to that condition by the 
influence of an education forming them to a character suited 
to the genius and spirit of a Republican government. For 
this purpose no time should be lost. In new countries, v/it!i 
a sparse population the means of education are obtained with 
great difficulty. Government therefore ought with parental 
solicitude and liberality to extend to them such advantages 
as will meliorate their condition. By this policy, it is evi- 
dent that the prosperity of the Union might be greatly aug- 
mented. 

S. P. 



liETTER V.e.CONTINUED. 

Should it be still urged as an objection against an imme- 
diate appropriation by Congress for the support of National 
Free Schools, that the present is a period of pecuniary em- 
barrassment, it may be proper to advert to the example of 
the early settlers of this country, and to consider whether 
embarrassments induced them to neglect the important duty 
of providing- for the education of their children. At the mo- 
ment, when to subdue the country, to defend themselves 
against their enemies, and to provide for the first wants of 
life they endured the severest hardships, and when with 
truth it might be said that they had no money, even then 
were they not so false to their children and to the cause of 
civil and religious liberty as to neglect to make provision 
for their education. The Court of the Colony of Mas- 
sachusetts levied taxes upon the people to be paid in arti- 
cles of produce instead of cash. If they had not money 



16 



to compensate the schoolmaster, they were obliged to pay 
him in grain or other articles of subsistence. In 1635, only 
fifteen years after the landing of the first settlers at Plymouth, 
schools for general education were established in Boston by 
the inhabitants of that town, whilst it was still almost entirely 
n wilderness. In 1647 the legislature of the Colony of Mas- 
sachusetts declared by a general law, ^^that every township 
with fiity families should provide a school, where children 
might be taught to read and write ; and that every township 
of one hundred families should provide a grammar school 
where youth should be fitted for the University." Similar 
laws were passed by the Colony of Connecticut, in 1650. 
The colonial laws of New Haven ordered, '' that the deputy 
for the particular court, in each plantation in the jurisdiction, 
for the time being, or where there are no such deputies, the 
constables or other officers in public trust, shall from time 
to time, have a vigilant eye on their brethren and neighbors, 
within the limits of said plantations, that all parents and 
masters do duly endeavor, either by their own ability and 
labor, or by improving such schoolmasters or other helps 
and means, as the plantation doth afford, or the family may 
conveniently provide, that all their children and apprentices 
as they are capable, may, through God's blessing, obtain, 
at least, so much as to be able to read the scriptures and 
other good and profitable books in the English tongue, being 
their native language." 

The power of the common people at that day to read and 
write was an acquisition far above the acquisitions of the 
common people of other countries. But it was seen by our 
wise and keen sighted ancestors that for purposes o\ self- 
government the people must be educated. Their schools 
were open to the poor as well as the rich. Each town was 
so divided into small school districts, that the schools were 
accessible to the children of all. A wiser institution for the 
purpose of establishing and maintaining a system of self- 
government, it may be asserted with confidence, could not 
liave been devised. Those sagacious men who had studied 
and felt too the causes of oppression and the means by which 
the people of other countries were kept down in servitude, 
were determ.ined at all events, that if their children even 
lacked bread, they should knov/ enough to enable them to 
ward off' t^ e evils of slavery. Notwithstanding the severe 
embarrassiTients and vexations the colonists had suffered, 



It 

previous to the Revolution they liad founded and endowed 
no less than eight colleges and universities. Considering 
how greatly the means and facilities for advancing the cause 
of education, have heen increased since the Revolution, it 
is apparent that as a nation we have not heen duly emulous 
of following the wise examples of our fathers. 

If the people are suffering to any considerahle extent from 
pecuniary embarrassments, and at the same time a surplus 
remains in the national treasury, the application of a few 
millions of dollars, annually, to the support of Free Schools, 
would tend to lighten those embarrassments. Such an ap- 
plication like blood flowing from the heart to the extremities, 
and bringing back to the heart fresh vigor, would create new 
means to replenish the national treasury. The money in the 
treasury ought not with miserly policy to be hoarded up. 
The government is solemnly bound to apply the revenue 
drawn from the people as directly and equally as possible to 
their benefit. If we may regard the maxims of the best au- 
thors on political economy, the present is a most favorable 
noment for this government to aid the cause of education. 
Say, an eminent writer on political economy, tells us in his 
chapter* on production, that ''academies, libraries, public 
schools and museums, founded by enlightened governments, 
contribute to the creation of wealth, by the further discov- 
ery of truth, and the diffusion of what was known before ; 
thus empowering the superior agents and directors of pro- 
duction, to extend the application of human science to the 
supply of human wants.'' The soundness of this doctrine 
ouo-ht to recommend it to all governments instituted for the 
benefit of the governed and especially to Republics. 

If it be objected that appropriations by government in aid 
of education cannot be immediately productive of revenue, 
the objection is not valid. The writer just cited very justly 
remarks, '' that the sacrifices made for the enlargement of 
human knowledge, or merely for its conservation, should 
not be reprobated, though directed to objects of no immedi- 
ate or apparent utility. The sciences have an ^universal 
chain of connexion. One which seems purely speculative 
must advance a step, before another of great and obvious 
practical utility can be promoted. Besides, it is impossible 
to Bay what useful properties may lie dormant in an obje-ct 

♦Vol. 1, p. 208. 

2* 



18 

of mere curiosity. When the Dutchman, Otto Guericke, 
struck out the tirst sparks of electricity, who would have 
supposed they would have enabled Franklin to direct the 
lightning, and divert it from our edifices, an exploit appai> 
entlv so far beyond the powers of man r" 

There is a turther consideration that must claim the seri- 
ous regard of wise statesmen. Where the power of gov- 
ernment is hereditary or is retained by the incumbent in ot- 
fice during life, the government may proceed in its opera- 
tions as does the clock until it runs down. But not so with 
an elective government where the elections are frequent as 
under ours. Once in four years the force of the public mind, 
enlightened or unenlightened, improved or deteriorated, is 
brought to bear upon the chief maoistracv of the union and 
to delegate to the sovereign power the elements of its own 
wisdom or folly, purity or corruption. At shorter periods 
the same elements are deleorated bv the elections to other 
departments of our goverimient. Hence the importance of 
perpetual vigilance, and of powerful causes in perpetual ac- 
tion, to preserve the Republic from degeneracy. Hence the 
importance of providing, icithouf dtlaij, those measures essen- 
tial to perpetuate in the knowledge and virtue of the people 
the vital principles and energies demanded for the preserva- 
tion and prosperity of this Union. The fall of Republics like 
that of the first pair from innocence and from paradise has 
in times past been sudden and tremendous. Ignorance, the 
blind goddess — 

*•' Springs her mine?, 
And de=olatei a nation at a blast." 

s. p. 



• " * ^^^ ««" 



LETTER yi. 

THis^^reat question must ever bear with important wei^'ht 
upon the faithful Legislators of this Republic. By what 
measures may the welfare of the whole people he most essentially 
promoted ? If the rights and just privileges of the fexc are 
unnecessarily sacrificed for the advantage of the many, this 
is oppress*! .?i as truly as if it took place under any other 
form of government. 



19 

The Representatives of the people of the United States 
are requested to take into deep consideration under all the 
momentous sanctions of their high trust, the prohahle. effects 
of a sijstem of JVatioiial Free Schools on the peophy the^overn- 
merit and general ivelfare of the Union. 

Relating to this subject history furnishes no appropri- 
ate examples, unless it be that of some portions of this Union, 
A number of the states have furnished examples sufficient 
indeed to teach the whole what may and ought to be done. 
But those states most advanced in this sublime work of en- 
lightening and elevating the common mind, a work that m:xf 
well delight the whole intellectual Universe ; even these few 
favored States, have yet done but little to protect the people 
under all possible circumstances from the danger of being 
misled, spoiled of invaluable rights and privileges, and grad- 
ually brought under a yoke which, if more enlightened, they 
would spurn. To prove this, facts might easily be adduced. 
I mean not to intimate that there are wanting men of educa- 
tion in any part of this Union, competent to fill the places of 
public trust, but that"there is wanting, among the people^ in- 
telligence promptly to detect abuses of power, and to guard 
against the artifices and intrigues of political and other im- 
postors. Whenever the master spirits of factions that may 
exist shall find it in their power to deceive and beguile a 
large portion of the people, the safety and prosperity of all 
will be endangered. And whilst our colleges and universi- 
ties are advancing by the aid of the lights of the present 
age, the safety of the people requires the best aids effectu- 
ally to guard their own rights. 

The effects of the system now proposed, on the general 
character of the people, would be beneficial in the highest 
degree. We have surely advanced already too far in the 
arts and sciences which adorn the human character and 
diffuse the means of happiness, to question this position. 
Knowledge is the vital element of virtue and of social order. 
It is that which makes the difference between the free man 
and the slave. May we not see in the examples given in 
our own country the most indubitable evidence that commu- 
nities are virtuous, enterprising and prosperous in proportion 
as they are enlightened } We have been told that the fall 
of Republics has been owing to want o( virtue in tl^people. 
But it may be asserted with equal confidence fln virtue, 
if it could exist without the difl^usion o^ knoivledge among the 



20 

people, can never render them secure in the possession of 
their liberties. Let the people be well educated, and whether 
virtuous or not, they will not submit to the condition of slaves, 
Give then to the whole people the means to be enlightened, 
and you give them power to guard and perpetuate their free 
government, and to provide various institutions conducive to 
their happiness. You give them facilities to procure subsist- 
ence, and present to them motives to sustain a character 
above the degradations of vice. You open to them new sourc- 
es of interest and pleasure, and save them from the vices which 
so often debase the human character and bring upon society 
its heaviest calamities. An institution established by the 
General Government devoted no less to the cause of virtue 
than to science, must therefore unite in its support the pat- 
riot, as well as the philanthropist and the christian. Give to 
the whole people the benefit of Free Schools and you qual- 
ify them to enjoy in a higher degree the blessings of their 
free government. You qualify them to judge of the wisdom 
of laws enacted and of all tlie measures of government. You 
qualify them to select with good judgment and discretion their 
public officers. You guard them against the artifices of 
political imposture and the ambitious designs of usurpers. 

Why do Republics that once flourished live now only in 
history? They have fallen, not because there were wanting 
in them individuals of distinguished learning and talents and 
w^orth and devotion to the public welfare, but because the 
common people of those Republics were not sufficiently en- 
lightened to foresee the consequences of perverse laws and 
measures of government. Lulled by the mere sound of lib- 
erty into the blind confidence and the repose of ignorance, 
like the hero of Gaza they were shorn of their locks, and in 
convulsive struggles perished. It was not sufficient to save 
them from degeneracy that Greece and Rome could boast 
of their great schools at Athens, Byzantium, Cesarea, Alex- 
andria, Ephesus and other places. It was not sufficient to 
perpetuate the glory of the Roman Republic that ''she sent 
her most illustrious citizens to be finished and refined in 
Greece," where they were enriched with science and with 
^' the treasures of eloquence." The common loeople still 
wanted the science essential to form a national character 
and to ^rpate indissoluble bonds of union. Enemies who 
had fou^ Jiem invincible in arms accomplished their pur- 
pose by s'ecretly sowing among them seeds of discord. The 



21 

iure of wealth overpowered the lovo of liberty, and the crlory 
purchased by costliest sacrifices was meanly bartered away. 
Let the people and government of the United States listen 
to the monitory voice of history, and learn from the past to 
provide for the future. 

What but literary institutions can assimilate the character 
of this people spread over a vast extent of country ? Tho 
constitution of our General (rovernment wisely j)rohibits all 
attempts to produce uniformity by an establishment of reli- 
gion. Similar principles and maxims of government pervade 
indeed the constitutions adopted by the several states. But 
the influence of our constitutions and laws must be slow 
without the aid of common schools as a circulating medium 
in tho several parts of the Union. The influence of associa- 
tion between the people of the diflercnt sections of tho 
Union must be slow in its progress. 

A system of national free schools established and main- 
tained by the General Government would extend to every 
family in the United States a common vital clement whoso 
influence all could at once see and feel. Soon would it dif- 
fuse benefits political and moral which no other measure of 
this government could impart. Soon would it attract ef- 
fectually the hearts of the multitudes of our citizens, who 
too often signify by their elections that they feel but little 
interest in the General Government, — to the great central 
power that in reality deeply and vitally affects the prosperity 
and welfare of all classes. 

If any event can teach the rulers of our land to feel at all 
times their responsibility, that must, when the eyes of an 
enlightened people, understanding their own rights and in- 
terests, are turned upon them. If any thing besides the ap- 
probation of heaven can sustain the patriot who labors in 
cither department of this government to promote the public 
good, it must be the consciousness that an enlightened [)eo- 
ple duly appreciate his eflorts and stand read^' to carry into 
effect whatever measure is generously devised to promote 
their welfare. 

JiCt the genc^ral government give to the whole people the 
advantage of Free Schools and the resources of wealth and 
power and prosperity will be rapidly developed. ]\ew 
avenues would be at once created for a benetlciftl exchange 
of products between the eastern and western, tlj|Mftrthern 



^nd southern sections of the Union. Let othe»TOtes ob- 



tl^ttprt 



22 

serve what science has already done in some of our States 
in developing and applying to purposes of wealth and pros- 
perity the agents and elements of our national independence 
and national glory. The mention of names would be invid- 
ious. Allusion to the fact is sufficient. And yet if I am not 
erroneous in judgment, to those States who have done most 
to provide for themselves the institution of free schools, the 
Union may look with confidence lor generous support of the 
plan projected in these letters. Intellectual light is an ex- 
pansive element. It comes from the throne where Benevo- 
lence presides. To the bosom it illuniines and warms — it 
imparts something of the nature of its Source, and loves to 
enliven and adorn all within thfe' sphere of its power. The 
thought cannot escape the enlightened christian Legislator 
that his services are not limited to purposes of mere political 
economy or of immediate effect. The condition of unborn 
millions is to be affected by the exercise of the prerogative 
with which he is delegated. The Legislator holds a vast 
sway. The common mind, God's noblest work, by him may 
be elevated or left to languish in ignorance, a bondage with- 
out hope. 

*' ! with what art — what early care. 
Should wisdom cultivate a plant so fair !" 

By all that is dear to memory in the character of those 
who have lived for our country or died in her cause ; by all 
that is sacred in the obligations that bind the rulers of a free 
people to provide for the general welfare, I conjure the Re- 
presentatives of the people ot the United States to appropri- 
ate a part of the Revenue drawn from the people and which 
has been so long and cheerfully yielded to their country, for 
the establishment and support of a system of National Free 
Schools, an institution capable above all others of equality 
in the distribution of its benefits, of giving strength to the 
bonds of the Union and of carrying rich blessings to all 
classes in every section of it. Political justice demands this. 
There is great force in the remark of one of the best of civil- 
ians that '' there is one end of civil government peculiar to 
a good constitution, namely, ihe happiness of its subjects. 
There is another end essential to a good government,, — its 
own preservation,^ Of these truths a wise statesman can 
never h>?p siirht. A system destitute of provision to effect 

^''Sc *Blackstone. 



23 

these ends, all must agree, is grossly defective. The power 
of government under our system is in the people. In the 
last resort they are the supreme judges to decide whether 
the laws and administrations of government shall be repealed 
or changed, executed or suspended. Rulers in the highest 
trust are only servants, who at the will and pleasure of the 
people hold their places. Can the sovereign power, which 
at its pleasure raises up or casts down, be safely left without 
knowledge to direct its course ^ Are the people of the U, 
States or any large portion of them to wait, in ignorant and 
passive submission to abuses of power and trust, until their 
manacles are rivetted, or*h4k.ll thos«^who mie^ paid liberally 
to provide for their welfare devise for them the necessary 
means to enable them to marlf'Bnd correct by their elections 
the earliest encroachments upon4heir rights ? On this ques- 
tion surely no friend to this government can doubt. Of 
what essential value is the elective franchise unless exercised 
with knowledge and discretion ? It may blindly vote into 
power enemies of liberty instead of friends, oppressors in- 
stead of guardians of the public weal. 

Already is it too evident that patriots and statesmen, the 
pride and boast of this country, have been unable in the 
spheres of even their immediate influence, to impart ex- 
tensively the spirit of their own character. Their light 
shone with splendor around them, but few in those spheres 
seem to have been formed by the preparatory process of 
education to be the happy recipients of their influence. 
Certain moral causes still darken the spheres where those 
examples stood through the period of a long life and in 
elevation that attracted the admiration of the world. 

In aid of the object of these letters the writer invokes the 
co-operation of the press^ through the medium of the public 
papers and of the public voice in every section of this IJnion. 
The confidence is indulged that to the Kepresentatives of 
the people that voice will not appeal in vain. 

SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE. 
October 31, 1829. 

♦Publishers of newspapers and other publications are respeclfullj 
requested to insert these letters. 



# 



llJi'gRY OF CONGRESS 

019L757 420* 



S'v 



